ALACK of ambition among young people is “endemic” to the North East, according to one of the region’s experts in training and education.
Susan Briganti, vice chair for Northumbria Learning Providers (NPL), says there has been no improvement in recent years to tackle the issue of people leaving school with no qualifications.
She spoke of her concerns after the publication of the latest report from think tank, IPPR North, which claimed the North East should have greater control over how to spend its skills funding.
Based in Gateshead, NPL is an organisation which bridges the gap between business and education by providing training opportunities to help people gain employment.
Ms Briganti said: “As a training provider, we have been working with people with no or low qualifications for the past 26 years.
“There seems to be a culture which is endemic in the North East and is being passed down through generations of families, where no-one has qualifications.
“There is a general lack of ambition in some of the region’s young people because they believe there is nothing for them here and it’s a problem that’s not getting any better.”
Ms Briganti added that there was a need to create more lifelong learning opportunities for people and agreed with IPPR North’s report, that a localised approach to funding would be a sensible way forward.
“We have seen changes in recent years over the skills agenda, where decisions that were once made regionally are now being made on a national, Government level,” she said.
“This has made the situation worse and needs to be addressed if we are to tackle the issue of a skills shortage in the North East.”
The report also recommended that the Government must work to improve careers advice and get the right information to parents and pupils, as what they want heavily influences what training providers provide.
CBI North East said it welcomed this recommendation and revealed it is already working on proposals to address the need for improved advice and support services for students.
Assistant director Andrew Hebden said: “We strongly agree with IPPR that there is a particular short-term issue with the quality of careers advice in our schools.
“CBI North East is already working with Schools North East on an innovative approach to this issue, looking at the possibility of using graduates to help fulfil this role, working across a small group of schools.
“We are also working together with headteachers on trying to identify business people to act as governors in schools, where they could provide such an important service.”
